Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Mark Dayton, Then and Now

Loon and human adults and babies require clean water and air.

In the fall of 1982, during Minnesota’s Congress and Senate races, I wrote to each candidate asking what his stand was on several issues that would affect my new baby’s future. The one of highest importance to me then and now was the environment. All but one of the politicians responded with a form letter. The exception was Mark Dayton, who sent me not just one but two letters.

My scanner isn't working, so these are photographs of Dayton's letters.

Both letters addressed each of my concerns, and Dayton’s positions were stated forthrightly.

He wrote, “Like you, I am very concerned about the quality of our country’s natural environment. Clean air and water are the foundation for the Minnesota way of life. We must make sure to protect it.” In one letter, he expressed concern about “cuts in the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget,” noting “We need senators and congressmen representing this state who will commit themselves to strong enforcement efforts by the EPA."

In the other letter, he wrote, “I support immediate reauthorization of the clean air and water acts. The Environmental Protection Agency’s budget must be increased.”

Dayton now wants to streamline the process so permits can be issued within 150 days of a proposal. This would be fine for simple projects not likely to have serious environmental impacts, but the permitting process is designed so objective reviewers can evaluate complex projects and deny permits or require modifications when a proposed project’s potential dangers are greater than its potential advantages.

Heavy metal mining is fraught with environmental dangers—some projects have devastated major waterways and groundwater supplies, leading to major bird die-offs and soil and water too toxic for human use. The permitting process isn’t supposed to be like getting a new drivers license or passport—the EPA isn’t supposed to rubber stamp each and every proposal on a simple timeline. PolyMet’s original environmental impact statement was rejected because it contained insufficient data to establish that impacts from the proposed mine would be less harmful than impacts from similar mines have been. Should this project be approved before PolyMet submits an acceptable environmental impact statement and the EPA has time to review it?

PolyMet, with corporate headquarters in Canada and wealthy shareholders around the world, plans to extract Minnesota’s valuable minerals for profit, without paying the state or its people any royalties. That is an exceptional privilege, which should come with reasonable responsibilities to ensure that we the people of Minnesota are not losing more than just our state’s geologic treasure.

Our people up here certainly need jobs, and any of us who use electricity depend on copper mining. But those of us who live right here have a right to ensure that any mining is done in an environmentally responsible way.

Dayton said it was wrong to “expect some group of people who work down in Chicago to have any real motivation to make the changes necessary to allow us to move forward and create jobs here in Minnesota.” But the scientists and regulators working at the EPA offices in Chicago are far more likely to be both knowledgeable and objective about potential environmental hazards of a mining project than politicians and state agencies that are being strong-armed by multi-national corporations with an agenda. The EPA process is only supposed to approve any project after being given all the information they need to be sure it will not irreparably harm our air and water.

Right now we’re watching the climate change before our very eyes.
Monarch butterfly numbers are in a tailspin because of lax enforcement of pesticide laws here and habitat destruction in Mexico. Do we need to kill our rivers and lakes before people will once again understand that the EPA exists to protect us, the people and wildlife of America, not to rubberstamp every project that comes down the pike?

4 comments
:

You go, girl. This is what happens when the money is all, almost all, on the side of the polluters. Many years ago, I joined the Sierra Club when it was considered to be some kind of radical organization, solely to add the weight of my support to the other side. I no longer consider the Sierra Club to be at all radical. It is the only environmental organization that makes lobbying and candidate endorsements a major element of its strategy, having given up its tax-deductible status in order to do so. I hope you have alerted your chapter of the Sierra Club to hold Dayton accountable for his new positions.

I noticed the Sierra Club covered this issue in their latest newsletter. https://secure.sierraclub.org/site/SPageNavigator/CHP_NorthStar_Signup.html "The EPA was created to protect human health and the environment, and over the last 40 years, has made remarkable progress in protecting our air, water, and communities. Earlier this month, we were disappointed by Governor Mark Dayton's statement that he would like to abolish the EPA. http://action.sierraclub.org/site/R?i=loc8OKyqFah8eiSOPJpzkw

Call Governor Dayton at 800-657-3717 and tell him that you support a strong EPA to protect the health of residents, workers, and our environment. Then, let us know that you made the call north.star.chapter@sierraclub.org!" Sierra Club is on the case clearly.

Can we really trust the MPCA and the DNR after Polymet submitted their first draft EIS. Both these MN State agencies signed off on it and thankfully the EPA said it failed miserably, not even close. This lack of judgement was made clear to me when I worked for the DM&IR Ry. Co now owned by Canadien National in Two Harbors. Every year we mixed thousands of gallons of waste gear grease with kitty litter and put the mixed used grease in two plastic garbage bags. The same bags we use in our trash cans. Then this grease was placed in the landfill in Castle Danger. The MPCA gave the railroad permission to dispose of this grease for years this way. We are talking at least 15,000 gallons of grease, closer to 30,000 gallons is buried in a land fill miles away from Lake Superior guarded by kitty litter and plastic bags. This is how MPCA protects the environment. When this starts leachinginto the ground water guess who will pay the costs to clean this up?

(This comment, which I entirely agree with, accidentally got deleted, so I had to copy paste it under my name, but it was posted anonymously anyway.)For the past several years, seeing the destruction caused by mining on a global level, I have gradually changed my views. I no longer believe the argument that we need all these metals for our electricity, electronics, etc. First, recycling these metals makes more sense than mining the very low grade ores that are now left on the planet. No one will speak about down-sizing our life styles. We only hear the standard industry line repeated by the media. There is litte/no money available for jobs creating efficiences or new ways to produce energy. In fact, the powers in charge assure that such inventions do not make it to the market place, thus disrupting current market control. I have personally concluded that people who are really concerned and aware need to align with others who are seeking to grow sustainable foods, live sustainably, or otherwise find a niche that promotes personal and ecological health. From my experience, the large environmental groups have become too politically polite to actually do much to help us.